Re: CSS and Netscape

Quoting Joseph McLean <joseph@secondflux.com>:

> I wanted to ask the group about this.  What version of (X)HTML should a
> competent web designer use this days?  Assuming that his/her design would
> work in all versions.
> 
> I've been reading a lot about XHTML and liking it, but is any compatibility
> sacrificed if I leave HTML behind and go straight to XHTML 1.1 for all my
> work?  Will Netscape 4 survive this, thanks to the transitional
> backwards-compatibility of XHTML?  Or is it safer, at this junction, to
> still use HTML 4.0.1?
> 
> I've being doing this gig since the early nineties, so I'm used to waiting
> (and waiting...) for good technology to be adopted across all pertinent
> browsers.  Is the time right for universal use of XHTML?  Or are there
> still caveats?
> 
> Wondering...
> 
> -Joseph

Hello,

Using XHTML don't guarantee me being a competent designer, but personally I've
been using XHTML 1.1 DTD[1] for some time. There has been no problems with older
browsers, excluding thead-tfoot-tbody -structure. Last weekend I had to make
one compromise using "border" attribute for an anchored image to prevent it
being bordered with NN4.x. As we know, CSS's border property don't render 
properly in NN4.x


When one should re-write a HTML 4.01 -document straight to valid XHTML, there
may appear some problems. For instance, CSS is treated partly differently[2] 
with XHTML DTD, and "converting" element's attributes to CSS can also bring 
problems.

If people keep waiting and asking "Has the time come for ...", nothing actually
evolves. Start using XHTML when you think it'd be appropriate - not when someone
tells you to do so.

Best Regards,
Samuli Hakoniemi

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd
[2] Eg., overflow property acts differently in BODY and TEXTAREA elements 
    depending on DTD.

Received on Sunday, 1 September 2002 06:32:44 UTC